The Hibernian Runaway

Chapter 11

 "Now where am I?" Lilly asked herself, looking at a map.

 Lilly had avoided the main roads since the escapade with the bandit. But by doing that, she had gotten herself lost.

 "I would've stuck to the main roads, Lilly. They're much more safer." Someone laughed from behind her.

 Lilly recognized the voice and went to kick Blizzard into a gallop, but she saw other men in front of her.

 "What do you want?" She asked, not facing the man.

 "I want you to get off your horse and come with us." The man said. "Peacefully." He added.

 "I don't know what game you're playing at, Henry, but it had better stop." Lilly ordered. “You know that your brother has committed treason. Helping him will not fare well for you.”

 "Oh, don't go saying that you're royalty and I have to listen to you. You don't even exist here." Henry McKennel laughed. "Now get off the horse."

 Suddenly, a black shafted arrow slammed into Henry's stomach. He screamed and fell off the horse. Henry's men stopped and looked around cautiously; knowing full well who those arrows belonged to.

 "Put your weapons in a pile and get on the ground." A voice ordered, coming from the brush.

 The men looked at each other their eyes wide. One of the men shook his head and shouted, "We're not afraid of you, archer. Come out and show yourself."

 "I'm giving you one last warning. Surrender and I will not kill you, otherwise you give me no choice." The archer said again, the voice coming from the opposite side of the clearing.

 The man swiftly walked over and grabbed Lilly by her hair and pulled her off the horse. She screamed and started to struggle, but the man clamped his hand over her mouth. She stopped and bit down hard on the man's flesh between the thumb and the forefinger. The man let go swearing and grabbed his knife and stabbed it into the soft part of her thigh.

 "I wish you hadn't done that." The voice said quietly. "I needed her alive."

 "That wound won't kill her." The man said.

 "But the infection will. Your knife is rusted, probably because you don't clean it after you kill somebody with it." The archer said, seemingly stepping out of a tree.

 "There's only one. Get him!" The man shouted.

 In a furious scream, the ten armed Hibernians swarmed after the Ranger. The bow swung up and let ten arrows fly in the space of thirty seconds. The arrows all hit their targets, the men dropping like flies.

 The man holding Lilly looked horrified at the Ranger, who had killed his countrymen.

 "You have no right to kill my countrymen." The man shouted, throwing down Lilly and drawing a sword.

 "I have every right. You are a foreigner who attacked villages for no reason." The Ranger said, leveling a loaded bow at the man.

 With an angry yell the man charged the Ranger. The Ranger released the arrow and watched as he fell to the ground. The Ranger slid over to Lilly, who was steeling herself to pull the knife out of her leg.

 "Are you all right?" The Ranger asked her.

 "No. Watch out." She screamed, grabbing his ankle and pulling him to the ground.

 The Ranger gasped as he saw a crossbow bolt hit the tree in front of him. He looked back and saw a flash of dull purple and scrabbled for his bow.